Because Japan had adopted the 7.7 mm Type
99 Rifle an accompanying 7.7 mm light machine gun was also developed. The
Type 99 was the basically same design as the Type
96 light machine gun, but the Type 99 dispensed with the oiler and had
better primary extraction. Early models had a mono-pod at the stock and a
flash-hider at the muzzle which was screwed onto a threaded portion of the
barrel. Like the Type 96, most were issued with a 2.5 power optical sight. These
were often issued to the best marksmen of the unit and occasionally employed
like a sniper rifle. It also served as a light anti-aircraft
gun occasionally during the war. The gun shares the shape of the British Bren
gun and the Czech ZB26, however, internally it is quite different from both.